With blistering riffs, grungy vocals and urgent drum beats on their new track 'It's Darker', Belfast-based New Pagans are set to be your new rock obsession.

New Pagans are an amalgam of musicians from all over the north, many of whom have played for other notable bands. Lyndsey McDougall (vocals) comes from Enniskillen and is mid-way through a PhD course at University of Ulster on Women’s History in Ireland, related through arts and craft. Cahir O'Doherty (guitar), her partner, was raised in Derry and has a history with acts such as Fighting With Wire, Jetplane Landing and Frank Turner. Drummer Conor McAuley is from Belfast and has served with Balkan Alien Sound. Bassist Claire Miskimmin has been active with Girls Names and Cruising while Allan McGreevy (guitar) previously ran with Rupture Dogs.

Perhaps appropriately for International Women's Day, the lyrics for 'It's Darker' are a sort of two-fingers to an incident at a party where a fellow musician became aggressive and wouldn't tolerate Lyndsey's views. “That’s where the original anger comes from – a confrontation," she explains. "It’s happened to me a few times. It’s like, ‘oh you’re a girl, you should just shut up’. A feminist anger came from that. Yes, I should be able to have an opinion. And it can be different to yours.”